[HiGHFLYiN9]

Personally for me when bad CGI is thrown into a film it just pulls me out of it. I think "wow they could have spent more time on that model" and then it takes me time to get back into the film. I also think that SFX people are just getting lazy, and rather getting creative with a backdrop, costume or rigged/computerized armature they just opt for CGI. Little CGI snippets in videogames have always annoyed me, I much prefer hand drawn animation as it generally has more character.

 

[Wodgy]

Part of the problem is that movies with a lot of CGI tend to be bigger budget movies. The bigger the budget, the more the movie studios tend to water down the script, hoping to appeal to the lowest common denominator audience. This means less character development and more explosions, chases, FX, and things like that. Sometimes the entire plot is eliminated (e.g. Van Helsing, Constantine) in favor of a few disconnected action sequences followed by a chase sequence followed by one final action sequence. Big budget Hollywood movies are getting so bad that they're almost not worth watching any more.

 

[D-EJ915]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk Nope, can't get enough of them. I even go so far as to search out stuff like Reboot and Beast Wars.

He's talking about human movies with CGI, not CGI animated shows. btw those shows kicked ass. REBOOT!! *click* *click*

 

[rickcr42]

once the novelty factor of the technology wore off,like in the first ten minutes,I have been totally anti CGI.
To me this is another example of laziness in the entertainment industry and unskilled persons being in an industry where once you had imagination plus pay some dues to be working.Hell even cartoons suck because we no longer have an actual artists doing the frame by frame and I at one time dearly loved my cartoons

i watched ,or should say attempted to watch for all of five minutes,a show on the Sci-fi channel last week.Something to do with aliens on a train (

) and it was so damn cheesy I looked at my son and said "are you kidding me ? You really going to watch this ?"

I am looking at this CGI train and thinking "what ? They run out of actual trains to film ? There a shortage ? Something i shouild know about ?" "is it now too difficult to walk outside and film a damn train going by ?"

It is to the point where CGI is not an option to save cash or to do the impossible but as the first option just because and it is lazy.In the old days Harry Housen stop action animation may have been choppy but at least someone took the time to try and do it right.Watching early Sci fi you could sometimes see the strings (

) or the edging of the cut out FX but again,at least and actual human was trying and pushing the envelope with what was available at the time rather than pushing a damn button and letting a machine do all the work.
You knew someone was in a Godzilla suit stomping on toys but so ?
the human touch is everything and what makes it associate with humans.
Yeah.I could rant on this but won't.........................................


Do robots dream of electric sheep ?

 

[wakeride74]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ServinginEcuador CGI isn't the problem. The problem is when directors and such think that it can replace bad scrpits, bad acting, and bad movies. It isn't a miracle pill to "fix" something bad, it merely enhances what's already good about a movie.

I agree and the CGI seems to be a crutch in too many flicks these days. I think that it bothers me most in the Horror genre. With very few exceptions this genre almost completely sucks now. Where are the Rick Bakers that so beautifully made the wolf in American Werewolf in London? That thing scared the piss out of me! Where is the quality writing that Hitchcock demonstrated?
Even some of the greats like M. Night are hit and miss.

The original poster was right about the creature creating (i.e. Alien), no matter how good the CGI gets it will never compete with creatures like Alien and American Werewolf in London.

 

[DRKsideOFtheMOON]

I'd say about 90% of me IS fed up with the cheap CG. Theres just to much going around and the technology is so cheap now filmmakers see it as a way out. They spend millions to make the movie all CG, sit back wait till its done and cash a check from the studio. But there are a few times where I must give props. Saving Private Ryan, the d-day scene used some nifty cg like when you see a soldier get hit by a mortar round and lose his leg, i totally didnt regognize that that was cg until i read about it. Robert Rodriguez did an incredible job at Sin City. Even though a lot of it looked cgi it was still sweet and i think it even added to the feel of the movie.
There are plenty of them out there, usually the best cgi we dont know about because it actualy did its job..it looks real!
Still, i think that I will always be partial to the original way to get the effects done. Before The Matrix and its wave of action cgi films to follow there were chinese John Woo films, Hard boiled and The Killers. They WERE ground breaking in action cinema.
George Romero's Day of the Dead is still the king of FX cinema, the people really looked like their guts were being ripped out (Tom Savini *wink*)...o excuse me, Dead Alive ( before Peter Jackson did LOTR he was a cult director) although extremly over the top gore and comedy it still looked real.
Italian horror? Lucio Fulci, anyone heard of the famous eyeball scene?
I dont know if CG will replace everything some day but I really hope not. Not unless the creators heart is in it will it be great imo.

 

[Jahn]

i still prefer cel anime to cgi anime, and the worst was Appleseed, which used cel-shaded cgi anime hehe.

in hollywood, cgi only bothers me if i can TELL it is cgi. like i bet King Kong is going to be.

 

[setmenu]

One thing I am sick of is talking animal [cg] movies , but hell I don't have to watch them
and plenty of people will continue to watch them.
Babe is my favourite 'talking animal' film because it is a great story well
executed.

As for cg in general some of it's more overt use for spectacular effect
seems to be a bit busy and lack economy of design.
I guess some of this may well be down to many artists creative influences ,
and inspiration for getting into the industry.[games.....

]
Take a look here:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/index.php?

You will find plenty of plenty of the 'usual' cg stuff monsters,techno and babes,
also a fair bit of debate covering topics similar to this thread.










.

 

[Regus]

Yeah I am tired of no contents fancy effects movies (and computer games for that matter). Seems to me that some marketing people realised that effects sell tickets and so started investing solely in over-cgi'ed movies, much like the designer bands issue in the music industry - it seems to me that ever since the economists and lawyers (no offense intended!) got admitted inside the front gates of all businesses we have seen less and less art and more and more mass production. Economically and legaly very sound, but artisticly it is a catastrophy.

Though fortunatly there are some rebelious elements. In movie relations one of the most memorable would be Dogme '95 (or Dogma '95 to translate) which were a bunch of danish movie makers who decided to make movies after a special set of very strict rules which forbade the use of any form of artificial lighting camera mountings, cgi and so on and so forth. The most famous one being Festen (The Party) Those of you who watch what I believe americans call foreign movies can't have missed it. This was what sparked the long row of content oriented danish movies with Lars von Trier as one of the most prominent on both the international and national scene.

Personally I think these movies mob the floor with the CGI wonders of hollywood, the same can be said for a number of other european movies, and non-hollywood american movies.

So while there is no doubt that there is a large amount of poorly made CGI based main stream movies there are also significant numbers of excelent movies that make no or appropiate only use of CGI.

It is with movies as with all things in this modern world, Bose for the masses a variety of hard to find delicasies for the rest of us...

Any one frustrated with the CGI or similarly "empty" movies should look towards the subcultures where - fortunatly - they still make some masterpieces.

Personally I take great pleasure in watching small scale theatrical productions made by people who care more about the art and less about the money or fame.

 

[archosman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wodgy Part of the problem is that movies with a lot of CGI tend to be bigger budget movies. The bigger the budget, the more the movie studios tend to water down the script, hoping to appeal to the lowest common denominator audience. This means less character development and more explosions, chases, FX, and things like that. Sometimes the entire plot is eliminated (e.g. Van Helsing, Constantine) in favor of a few disconnected action sequences followed by a chase sequence followed by one final action sequence. Big budget Hollywood movies are getting so bad that they're almost not worth watching any more.

Van Helsing had a plot?

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by archosman Van Helsing had a plot?

Yes, the plot to kill the audience's brain cells. I'll never watch that POS.

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

Van Helsing had a plot?

kill everything that moves,look cool,get the babe.........

 

[markl]

Quote:

In the old days Harry Housen stop action animation may have been choppy but at least someone took the time to try and do it right

God bless Ray Harryhausen! Total hero of mine. Love those old movies.

 

[EyeAmEye]

As everyone else has suggested, you can't blame CGI for lack of plot, character development, logic, and all the other goodies you want in a good movie. Good CGI can greatly enhance a film, if done correctly. Of course, it becomes a crutch for hollywood producers who want to make films bereft of any intelligence or coherence. They must be doing something right, however, since many of these brainless, CGI loaded movies make millions. Throw in a few canned, never funny one-liners for the hero to spout after every CGI blow-up, and you have a blockbuster. Can't blame the CGI, though.

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

God bless Ray Harryhausen!

When I was "little rickeraptor" I was totally impressed with the FX in "Jason and the Argonauts".
Even though the creatures looked nothing like the real thing for some reason they looked better than real.
Always considered the scenes where the statue that came to life (the one that crushed Hercules

) and the flying demons that harassed the blind Oracle,taking the food right off his plate to be very special.
Man I can still hear the Sound FX that went with the visuals.that echoing metal of a bronze statue on the move

CLASSIC !